KATHMANDU: Fourteen people were dead after an Indian passenger bus with 43 aboard skidded off a road in central Nepal on Friday, local authorities said.
“So far, 14 have been killed. The rescue operation is ongoing,“ Shukra Chuman, chairperson of the Aanbookhaireni Rural Municipality in Tanahun district of the Gandaki province, told Xinhua.
The Indian bus carrying 43 people fell into the bank of the Marsyangdi river in Aanbookhaireni as a huge stone stopped it from falling further, said Deepak Kumar Raya, spokesperson for the district police.
A photo released by Nepal Army on social media showed the bus lying on the river bank.
Deepak Kumar told Xinhua that 36 people have been rescued and 15 of them remained unconscious.
“The search for the remaining seven is ongoing,“ he said, adding that the accident occurred when the bus was heading to the capital city of Kathmandu from Pokhara, a popular tourist attraction in Nepal.
Deepak Kumar originally put the number of people traveling on the bus at 40.
Both Deepak Kumar and the spokesperson for Nepal’s Armed Police Force refused to confirm deaths in the accident. – Bernama, Xinhua
